TranState is a new analytic tool (a software program) developed to help communities prepare for and track infections diseases including SARS, smallpox, or pandemic flu. Anonymous details are entered about an individual — i.e., age, sex, onset of symptoms, people with whom they have been in contact — but no patient identifying information.

The information entered into the program allows for a probability determination that one person contracted one of the infections diseases from another person. By estimating the infection rates, community officials can make decisions about possible school closures or how best to distribute medicines to areas where people are most likekly to become ill.